Team uses antisense technology that exploits gene splicing mechanism to kill cancer cells

Cancer cells grow fast. That’s an essential characteristic of what makes them cancer cells. They’ve crashed through all the cell-cycle checkpoints and are continuously growing and dividing, far outstripping our normal cells. To do this they need to speed up their metabolism. CSHL (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a private, not-for-profit institution on the north shore of Long Island) Professor Adrian Krainer and his team have found a way to target the cancer cell metabolic process and in the process specifically kill cancer cells. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Wang Z, et al. Manipulation of PK-M mutually exclusive alternative splicing by antisense oligonucleotides. Open Biology. Published online October 31, 2012.